Publications

Patti S. Spencer, Esq., is a nationally recognized Trust & Estates attorney and author. Her areas of concentration include trusts; estate administration, settlement, and planning; inheritance tax; fiduciary liability; and tax planning. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). Ms. Spencer is a prolific author, including the books and articles listed below.

Published Books / Resources

Pennsylvania Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts Library: Forms and Practice Manual

Pennsylvania Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts Library: Forms and Practice Manual

2-volume set published by Data Trace, 2007. Topics covered include estate planning, simple wills, generation-skipping transfer tax, revocable living trusts, credit shelter/bypass trusts, irrevocable trusts, and charitable gift planning.


Your Estate Matters: Gifts, Estates, Wills, Trusts, Taxes and Other Estate Planning IssueYour Estate Matters

AuthorHouse, 2015, 551 pages. This book serves as an authoritative guide to estate planning, tax matters and financial strategies for long-term management of personal, family and closely-held business assets.


Published Ebooks

How to be an Executor in Pennsylvania

If you have been named an Executor for a late loved one’s assets, you need this invaluable guide to navigate settling the estate. In this Ebook, I will go over the details that may be over


Estate Planning for Digital Assets

What happens to a loved one’s digital assets when they pass away? Are their social media accounts shut down, and who has access to their online banking? This guide will define what a digital asset is and why it should be included in estate planning.


Published Articles

National Civil War Museum parking lot deal funneled $3 million to Reed’s special projects fund
– August 3, 2015

How the 3.8 Percent Medicare Surtax Can Bite Your Clients

Time is Ticking on IRA-Charity Rollovers

“Estate Planning for Lawyers,” GPSolo, January/February 2011, Volume 28, Number 1, pp39-40.

“Cochran v. KeyBank – TOLE Case Law Guidance (Part 2 of 2),” Barry D. Flagg and Patti S. Spencer , in Steve Leimberg’s LISI Estate Planning Newsletter #1486.

“Mediation for Trusts and Estates,” Philadelphia Estate Planning Council, Spring 2005.

“Tax Us, Please,” Trusts & Estates, March 2003.

“Must Private Property be Inheritable?” Boston University Probate Law Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1990.

“The Plight of the Personal Representative after Tulsa,” Boston University Probate Law Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1990.

“Advantages Remain to Making Gifts in Trust to Minors that Qualify for Annual Exclusion,” Estate Planning, Volume 14, No. 5, September, 1987.

“Filing Gift Tax Returns Need Not be Difficult or Time Consuming,” Estate Planning, Vol. 11, No. 5, September 1984.

Basic Estate Planning

Division of the Estate Among Children

No Simple Will

Grandfather Clock

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax

New PA Inheritance Tax (in 2000)

Inheritance Tax – Part I

Inheritance Tax – Part II

Inheritance Tax – Part III